1. Internet, WWW & E-Commerce
Sadiq M. Sait, Ph.D
Department of Computer Engineering
King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

2. Topics Covered in this Session
A brief overview of relevant Internet Services
Web and HTML
Client/Server Software and HTTP
Images, Frames, Forms & Web-DB
E-Commerce
Several other related topics

3. Lingo HyperText: Enables linking to places Link(s)
Hyperlinks: Hot spots on which a user can click to access other:
topics (in the same document)
documents, (other HTML files, for e.g.),or
Web sites
URL: Addresses on Internet to which hot spots connect

4. Lingo GIF, JPEG, XBM, XPM (picture formats)
Netscape, Mosaic, Iexplorer (browsers)
WebEdit, HoTMetaL, FrontPage (editors/tools)
FTP, TCP/IP, HTTP (protocols)
Applets, J++, javac, Java Engine (Java programming)
xv, clipart, adobe-photoshop etc., (graphics editors)

5. Tutorial Outline Internet Services & WWW Two main components
Web & Related Multimedia
E-Commerce
Demo of selected concepts

6. What Is The Internet? Worldwide network of computer networks
No central authority
Quick communication & data transfer
Size more than doubles annually
Traffic increases more than 15%/month
Offers an enormous array of information
Network of computer networks with TCP/IP as the common language

7. Who Runs The Internet? No one owns or runs the Internet.
Every computer connected to the Internet is responsible for its own part.
The National Science Foundation is responsible for maintaining only the backbone.
If something doesn’t work, you do not complain to the ‘management’ of the Internet. Instead you talk to the system administrators of the computer you are connected to.

8. What Do You Do On The Internet?
Search and Retrieve Documents
Exchange (100 M addresses)
Download programs, demos and graphics
Search databases of Companies and Government
Read and Response to USENET groups (30,000 different topics)
Real-time chat, Web-phone and video conference

9. What Do You Do On The Internet? (Examples)
Book an air ticket (best itinerary), reserve a hotel
Choose and order a book from a bookstore
Order Pizza
Buy Stocks (invest in companies)
Visit e-malls, do e-shopping
Display info about yourself
See a movie
Make friends
Watch what others are doing
Gossip
etc.

10. What really is a Service?
On internet (network of networks), computers communicate with one another. Users of one computer can access services from another.
You can use many methods to communicate with a computer somewhere else on the Internet.
These methods used to communicate are called services because they service your requests.
There are a wide variety of services, and each can give you many kinds of information.
In summary the internet is a:
way to move data (audio, video, etc)
a bunch of protocols (or rules for machines to communicate with each other)

11. Clients and Servers
All that we speak of internet fall into three categories:
Clients
Servers
Content
(Interaction and Transactions)
Software/Hardware that we use to browse the Web, send mail, download files, etc are called clients.
Servers respond to clients requests.

12. Available Services Email: Electronic mail
Telnet: Remote login into computer networks
FTP: File Transfer Protocol for transferring computer files
WWW: World Wide Web
Gopher: Searchable index, selectable index of documents
USENET: Newsgroups with different subjects enable people with common interest to share information
Chat: Real-time communications between people on the Internet
Others (Archie, Wais, Gopher, News and News Groups, Internet Relay Chat, Internet Phone, Net2phone, Video Conferencing, & Internet Collaborative Tools)

13.
Most popular, de-facto standard of communication, works between disparate systems, let users attach files (audio, video, animation, etc), and volume of data transferred is billions of bytes/day.
easy to send, read, reply to, and manage, global, economical and very fast, recipients are more likely to reply to an message, and can be read or written at any time, independent of time zones and business hours

14. E-mail Advantages: Disadvantages
Standard way of communication for corporations
Less interference or interrupts between work
Reply with a number of options
No cost within the environment
Less chance of miscommunication
Can save messages for future retrieval and records
Disadvantages
You need to have a computer and a network connection
Less personal than voice (although now we can also have voice mail, with some extra cost)

15. Recipient’s Mail Client
How works?
Sender’s
Mail
Client
Post Office Server
(SMTP)
Mail Server (POP3)
Recipient’s Mail Client
Finding an Address
Finger
Whois

16. Telnet
Telnet is a program that lets you log into to a remote computer.
Why Use Telnet? (Least used part of the Web).
Technically telnet is a protocol..
Connection can be established by using SLIP, PPP or dedicated lines.
Usually available in the universities and Internet Service Providers.
Weakness (a) Only console applications can run. No GUI support unless X terminals are used. (b) Security risk because hackers can trap the IP address of the network.
All ports numbered 80 will have Web sites; likewise all port 23s will be used for telnet, and multi-user games will be found on 4201, etc.

17. FTP File Transfer Protocol
Allows transfer of any type of file from the remote server to a local computer and vice versa
File types could be ASCII or Binary
All types of files from text to multimedia can be transferred.
Two types of FTP: Secure and Anonymous
can download or upload files without having an account on the machine.

18. Discussion on the Net
Network news is another way to take part in a lot of discussions over the internet (News, News groups)
Talk
Internet relay chat, voice chat (IRC servers and nicknames
Internet phone
Net2Phone
Video Conferencing

19. Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, Rocket Mail ….
Hotmail and it’s cousins are all getting to be very popular because
they offer free accounts,
basically use Web-technology
The disadvantage is that you have to
wait longer; frustrating experience if the mail is plenty and the lines are slow--which they are anyway, most of the time!
The major advantage, however,
is access to mail from virtually anywhere they can access the WWW on the Internet
there is privacy, since mail is left on the server

20. Free Resources
In addition to free- addresses and space, companies also give you
Free domain name hosting, free disk space, free virtual stores and software
In brief, generally, you do not have to pay to do business on the net.

21. Why Design Web pages & for Who?
Personal Pages
Companies, Organizations
(schools, universities, research centers, etc)
News Networks
Journals
Events (conferences, international games, etc)
Internet/Intranet

22. What is HTML? HTML is a structured language
rules of nesting
All WWW documents are written in HTML
WWW
World Wide Web
Most popular Internet information service

23. What is Internet? What is Internet?
Worlds largest network
Collection of interconnected networks built on the Internet protocol TCP/IP
Growing at an amazing rate
Open system with decentralized management
Estimated: 513 million people all over the world (180 Million in US & Canada, and 154 Million in Europe).

24. World Wide Web Client/Server Architecture
Designed to make it easy for people to share information
Hides complexities of location of documents
Easy to distribute information
Fun to look at

25. Internet Applications: FTP and WWW
Client
FTP
server
User
files
Internet
Browser
Helper Applications
Web
Server
Binary
Graphics
Audio
Video

26. World Wide Web Hyperlinks Highlighted words or pictures
Item pointed to may be another document image, movie, sound clip etc

27. WWW Browsers Interpret HTTP as well as other protocols
ftp, mailto, telnet, gopher, etc.
Display physical formatted HTML text
in-line images
hyperlinks

28. Why learn HTML? Everyone is a publisher WWW documents must be in HTML
The architecture of the Internet allows almost anyone to become an information provider for a world wide audience
WWW documents must be in HTML
To create your own home page you need to know some HTML
(Now, anyone can do business over the Internet)

29. Why learn HTML? (contd..) Not a must It is very easy to learn
Can use tools to create HTML
Conversion tools can be used to convert existing HTML documents
Example: LaTeX2HTML
Word documents can be saved in HTML
FrameMaker documents too
It is very easy to learn

30. Creating an HTML Page Requirements Focus
Text or HTML Editor to enter TAGS
Graphics editors
Browser (Netscape, Internet Explorer, Lynx, etc.)
Focus
Usable and Eye-catching documents
Images in Web pages
Animation

31. HTML Basics HTML documents contain 3 things Example Text +TAGS
External Multimedia such as graphics, sound, movies, etc.
Example
<TAG> Your Text Here </TAG>
Types, used in pairs, or not in pairs
Tags can be nested

32. What are Tags? Mark text as Also for headings, paragraphs
formatting (physical, logical)
list
quotations, etc.
Also for
creating hyperlinks
including images, making tables
fill-in forms, frames

33. How do they look? <H1> KFUPM </H1>
display KFUPM as a level 1 heading, can go down from H1 to H6
<P> A paragraph comes here </P>
<A> Anchor </A>
<BR> for line breaks
<HR> for horizontal line

34. HTML Document Structure
Basic Structure
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE> KFUPM </TITLE></HEAD>
<BODY>
….. ….. ……
</BODY>
</HTML>

35. HTML Document Structure
HTML= head + body
Body elements contain all the text and other material to be displayed
Line breaks and indentation exist only for human readability
Comment
<! upto the next >
<PRE> for pre-formatted text

36. Character formatting Markup
Physical Styles
<B> bold </B>
<BIG> …. </BIG>
<SUB> Makes text subscripts </SUB>
<TT> emphasized text </TT>
<I> text in italics </I>
<FONT> changes font size </FONT>
<BASEFONT SIZE=n> n=1,…,7
Tags for List Markup

37. More on Tags HTML elements Empty elements Attributes for elements
start tag and end tag
<NAME> …. </NAME>
Empty elements
<BR>
Attributes for elements
<IMG SRC=“sadiq.gif”>
tag names and attributes are case insensitive
filename is case sensitive

38. Spinning your HTML Web
To create hot spots (or Anchors) you need two things
URLs (Uniform Resource Locator)
Links
Anchors and Links allow readers to jump from place to place in the document
URL is a fancy way of saying address or location for information on the Internet
You need to jump to secure sites to do transactions for e-commerce

39. URL Anatomy & Types Example: Types: Other Protocols (mailto, ftp, etc)
protocol indicator,hostname,directory/filename
Types:
Absolute URLs (also called complete URLs)
Relative URLs (are incomplete URLs)
Other Protocols (mailto, ftp, etc)
ftp://ftp/pub/images/backgrounds/glosbgr.gif

40. Examples http://www.ccse.kfupm.edu.sa/~sadiq/tut.html
<IMAGE SRC= ftp://ftp/pub/images/backgrounds/glosbgr.gif ALIGN = MIDDLE>
<A HREF=“

41. Named Anchor & Basic Links
<A HREF=something>anchor_name </A>
something = #name
name=funny (for example)
something = filename.html[#name]
tutorial.html
something = a Web site, for example
ftp://www/ksu.edu.sa/~ahmed/jokes.html
<H2><A NAME=“funny”> Funny</A></H2>

42. Using Images in Web Pages
Tags are available for Including, Aligning, etc.
Must include them as GIF or JPG graphics
Use graphic editors, scanners, or, borrow
Must use an Image Tag <IMG SRC = "..…”>
ALT=". . . " specifies text to be displayed if image not available
BORDER=# of pixels, controls the thickness of the border
Pictures can be aligned Left, Right, etc.

43. Some notes on Images
Loading of images is made faster by telling the browser the size of the image
Size is specified in pixels
You can link by using images
Can have pictures with no borders
You can use thumbnail images to link to larger images
Making clickable images (image maps, enable readers to click on parts of images, HTML tag used in <MAP>)

44. Other Attributes Choosing Colors
Background
Links (link, alink, vlink)
Text
Colors can be chosen for tables, background etc.
RGB concept (#FFFFFF=white)
Choosing background (using images, .gif files)

45. Some More Tags CENTER, BLINK, HR, APPLET <FORM> <TABLE>
SELECT, OPTION, TEXTAREA
<TABLE>
TR, TH, TD, CAPTION
FRAME
FRAMESET
Inclusion of Java Applets, JavaScript, CGI programs
And more ….

46. Forms on Web What are they used for Features
Surveys
Collect addresses of visitors to your Homepage
Allow people to register for something
Features
Submitted by mail
Security (Passwords)
Checkboxes and Radio buttons
Area for Text and Comments
Require a CGI program on server to process data coming from the form submission

47. HTML TAGS/Attributes <FORM> … enclose form ... </FORM>
ACTION=“…” identifies what should happen when the form is submitted
<INPUT …. > identifies some type of input field
CHECKED shows which item is selected by default (check box/radio button)
TYPE indicates the type of field (text, password, radio, submit, reset, etc)
VALUE indicates the value of the button

48. Frames SRC: URL of documents to be displayed
NAME: so this frame can be targeted by links in other documents
Physical dimensions: Height, width etc.
Other features: Scrolling, Resizing, etc.
They are a complete HTML document or a page

49. Java Applet inclusion Compile the Java code (e.g., use javac)
example: javac Blinker
Creates file with extension .class,
example Blinker.class
Use the tags <APPLET> … </APPLET>
Specify parameters such as speed, color (for background and text, etc.)

50. Java Applet Inclusion (contd)
<applet code=“Blink.class” width=300 height=30>
<param name=lbl value = “SADIQ M. SAIT,”>
<param name=speed value=“6”>
</applet>

51. Java Applet Inclusion (contd..)
<applet code=“ticker.class” width=280 height=30>
<param name=msg value = “Welcome to the tutorial on Web page design and HTML!” >
<param name=“shco” value=“210, 210,210”>
<param name=“speed” value=“9”>
<param name=“bgco” value=“255,255,255”>
<param name=“txtco” value=“255,0,0”>
</applet>

52. CGI (Common Gateway Interface)
cgi-bin (JavaScript, Java, Helper Programs, Plug-ins)
Executable: Example
<!--#exec cgi=“/cgi-bin/counter”--> people visited this page.
Helper programs
to send mail
run audio/video applications
etc

53. Searching and Search Engines
Search engines (registering your site)
Tools to discover Web resources on the internet.
Help in locating information.
They act as an agent between publishers and users.
Examples: yahoo, altavista, Webcrawler, etc.

54. Web- Directories
A Web-directory, like Yahoo, maintains a database of all the Web sites by recording the company name and other important information from the Web-pages like captions, etc.
A Web directory can be compared to the contents page of a book.

55. Web-Indexes
A Web Index, like Alta-Vista, maintains exhaustive information of every Web-site by picking up all important and key-words from every single page of the site.
A Web-Index can be compared to the index pages of a book.

56. Search Engine Tools Yahoo: www.yahoo.com
Alta Vista:
Excite:
Hot Bot:
InfoSeek:
LookSmart:
Magellan:
MetaCrawler:

57. WWW browsers (capabilities?)
Helper Applications
Programs on the user’s computer that can be used to display images, movies, sound, etc. that cannot be displayed on the browser itself
Sound files
Movies (MPEG)
Mail
Other file formats

58. Other & Recent Technologies
Helper programs
to send mail
run audio/video applications
etc
Authoring Tools (FrontPage’98 for eg.)
VRML, Dynamic HTML, XML, WML, ASP, etc
Video Streaming
Push Technology
Web Data-Base Integration (through cgi)
E-Commerce

59. Audio
Realtime music and spoken words were brought to the Web by RealAudio
This is a streaming technology that opened the door for broadcast style dynamism
Concept was soon applied to video, video-conferencing and multimedia delivery (Plugin-- RealPlayer)
Other audio formats include .wav, .au (from Sun, low telephone quality), AIFF (audio interchange file format)

60. Real-time Audio Formats
Currently dominated by Progressive Network’s (ww.real.com) Real Audio format
Over 28.8K modem RealAudio is == mono FM Radio
ISDN format files provide near CD quality
New real-time audio formats include
Microsoft’s Netshow, Beatnik (from Thomas Dolby’s company), Headspace, Liquid Audio’s authoring system
For more info on Internet audio see

61. Video Majority of down-load and play use Apples’ QuickTime
AVI and MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group) are also found
Most video is recorded at 160*120 pixels (due to bandwidth limitation)
Also limited color and low frame rate is used
To play downloaded files through Browsers, links are made in the document using the anchor tag

62. Video (Realtime)
Real-time video is also available on the net, established companies with their own streaming formats include
VivoActive (
XingTech (
VDO (
All formats support windows (only few support Mac or Unix)
Examples of sites include cnn.com, hollywood.com, universalstudios.com, etc.

63. Unicast and Multicast
Wbesites delivering streaming media operate in unicast mode (one-to-one)
They provide VCR type of controls
Multicast is video content to larger number of audience
Small unicast audience may be supported through client/server systems
For true multicast MBONE may be required
Problems become severe as Webcasting tries to emulate high fidelty audio/video

64. Quality Limitations Broadcasting on the Web is cheap
Limitations are also due to modem speeds (56K or even 28.8 speeds)
Images are generally jerky, grainy (digital)
Example (Try

65. WebCams Web Cameras are cheap
Good quality pictures can be snapped and updated using ftp
Video clips of small sizes can also be made
jpg files can be uploaded to sites hosting Webpages at low rates such as once every 60 seconds
Creative WebCam with ISpy software is a solution

66. Push Technology
In contrast to pulling a Web page by clicking, you can schedule a pull (call it a push).
Systems such as Pointcast deliver regular updates to end-users (
By setting up delivery channels, push systems deliver information to the user without having to conduct search.

67. Push Technology
Recent versions (Marimba and BackWeb have incorporated Web-based content and support for multimedia.
Users control the content actually pushed to the desk (unlike in the case of broadcasting).
Smarter methods of surfing and content caching, and end users surf local content.

68. Electronic Commerce
E-Commerce is buying and selling of goods and services on the internet, especially the WWW.

69. Electronic Commerce Involves
Virtual storefronts on Web sites with online catalogs, sometimes grouped in a virtual shopping mall
The gathering and use of demographic data
Electronic Data Exchange (EDI) – the business to business exchange of data
Bulk ing as a media for reaching prospective and established customers with news and updates

70. Other Requirements
Infrastructure, delivery system such as UPS in the US
Warranty, guarantee culture
Presence of international companies to boost customer trust and confidence
Based on TV model (but it is possible to determine which ad on the internet is bringing in more customers).

71. Virtual Stores 24 hour availability Global reach
Ability to interact and provide custom info and ordering
Multimedia capabilities

72. Examples
Expected to be a multibillion dollar source of revenue for global businesses
In 1997 Dell Computes reported orders of a million dollars daily!
In 1998, total business-to-business e-commerce revenues generated was $12.5 Billion, expected to rise to $131.1 Billion by the year 2000 (reported by eMarketer)
Vinton Cerf, Chairman of Internet Society (and executive at MCI) estimates that by 2003 e-commerce will reach between $1.8 and $3.2 Trillion
See amazon.com, travelocity.com, towerrecords.com, etc.

73. Three Options Buy ready-made solution ibm Net.Commerce
Rent space in a network-based e-commerce solution iCat Commerce and Yahoo Store
Build the system from scratch with components and parts (requires expertise, time, and budget---- but will give exact solution).
Another option is to use a ‘plug-in’ application to FrontPage’ JustAddCommerce
For stats and growth of e-commerce and demographs see or

74. EDI
EDI is the exchange of business data using an understood data format. It was in existence long before the Web
Involves data exchange among parties that know each other well and make arrangement for one-to-one connection, usually dial-up.
An EDI message contains a string of data elements which are separated by delimiters. Each data element represents a fact, such as price, product model number, etc. The entire string is called a data segment.

75. EDI
A transaction set contains one or more data segments framed by a header and trailer. This is the EDI message or unit of transmission.
A transaction set usually contains information that would typically be contained in a business document or form.
Trading partners are parties who exchange EDI transmission.

76. Bulk
Sending ads and info (sometimes in the form of newsletters) is a method for marketers to reach potential E-commerce customers.
Sometimes customers request to be added to newsletter or ‘’special offer’’ mailing list when visiting Web sites.
More often address are ‘harvested’ and sold to bulk ers who send their messages to as many Web users as possible

77. Bulk
Unsolicited is considered to be a ‘’SPAM’’ to the receiver. The should include a message that explains how to remove yourself from the list (usually by replying with remove in the subject heading)
See

78. Steps Netscape Virtual Office gives 7 steps to selling online:
Step 1: Getting a free address for life
Step 2: Building a custom Website for free
Step 3: How to attract visitors to your site for free (with Register it)
Step 4: How to track visitors (with Hitometer)
Step 5: Tuning your Website (by running critical diagnostics)
Step 6: Finding new customers for free
Step 7: Selling Online

79. NVO E-Store (an example)
A cost effective solution to selling on-line
Can add a store to your Website in few minutes
Can try it out for free for 30 days
Company logos and other products images can be uploaded by simple clicks.
Shopping carts, security of credit card data, confirmation via , automatic tax calculation, shipping charges, and detailed tracking and analysis are provided.

80. Things One Must do
Every business who wishes to accept credit cards through a Website much have all the following:
Merchant Account
Shopping Cart
Secure Server
Processing Mechanism
Real time
Manual

81. Merchant Account This is like a contract with the credit card company
These companies process your transactions and forward the money to your business account (you must have a business account)
Fees is reasonable, (application fee $50-$400, monthly statement fee $10-$30, Per transaction fee $0.30-$1.00 and monthly minimum transaction fee $20-$50).
Some e-commerce packages include the application for a merchant account.

82. Shopping Cart
This is the software on your Web site which allows customers to ``Browse your store’’ and select items to ``place in their shopping cart’ for purchase when they check out.
The SW computes applicable state sales tax, shipping costs (if any) and quantity totals.
Many companies charge $100-$1000 for this SW. Some companies give it free with their E-commerce package (e.g., S-Mart sopping Cart software is available free).

83. Secure Server
Most customers will not give their credit card information over the internet unless its over a secure server.
The current popular secure server is ‘’SSL’’ (secure socket layer).
SSL encrypts the data being passed from your consumer’s browser to the secure server (making data useless if intercepted)

84. Processing Mechanism
This is the final requirement. Now that you have the merchant account, shopping cart software and a secure Web site, you will need a way to transmit your credit card transactions to your merchant account
There are two methods

85. Processing Mechanism Methods
Real Time: Customer credit card info is checked for approval immediately while he waits.
Manual: This means that each transaction is entered by the merchant after the consumer’s purchase is made.
To process in real-time one must have a direct Web link with the processing company, usually through the secure Web site (Cybercash, a costly was to achieve real-time processing).

86. Free Software
Several sites provide free software or free demo downloads.
Examples: and Perl$hop provide free shopping cart software.
Another most powerful free shopping cart system is available from MiniVend. (Runs on Perl 5.04 under Unix and Windows).

87. Free Software
MiniVend supports just about every need for a leading edge shopping site. Online credit processing CyberCash, Authorize.Net, PaymentNet, security with SSL and PGP, powerful database connectivity with SQL and DBI/DBD, internationalization, and much more.

88. Free Software
There are companies who will handle the whole transaction process, form calculating the order to processing the credit transaction. FreeMerchant.com claims free credit card processing and secure account handling (catch? Maybe banners on your site)

89. Others Merchant Planet Sales Gate Yahoo Stores IBM
All provide solutions at cost.
Products can also be sold through on-line auctions. Check up eBay.

90. Finally….
Summary
Demo